Nothing to celebrate on
Workers’ Day

FROM a distance, one
could mistake the gathering for a funeral where a few mourners were paying their
last respects to their loved one.

Report by Musa
Dube

The people looked
haggard and exhausted.

Part of the dejected crowd that came to commerorate Worker’s Day
at white City Stadium in Bulawayo last week

This is the scenario
that greeted this reporter when he arrived at the White City stadium in Bulawayo
on May 1 where people were commemorating the Workers’ Day.

The paltry crowd that
braced the chilly morning weather was literally in a sombre
mood.

Even the sexually
stimulating and gyrating dance moves from popular musician Sandra Ndebele failed
to change the mood that engulfed the entire stadium.

This year’s
commemorations were different as they were held at a time when workers’ morale
had reached an all-time low.

Most of the workers had
nothing to celebrate as working conditions and remuneration at the few companies
still operating were deteriorating.

The 15 000-seater White
City stadium was virtually empty as only a few people turned
up.

Most of the workers in
the second largest city are going for several months without getting their full
salaries.

Big companies such as
the Cold Storage Commission (CSC) and National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) are
reportedly failing to pay their workers resulting in morale going
down.

Employers fail to pay
for services rendered

Workers told harrowing
tales of how they were struggling to make ends meets in the wake of company
closures.

An NRZ worker, who
identified himself as Dube, said they were living in abject poverty despite
waking up every day to work.

“My brother, we are in
big trouble. Imagine we have gone for several months without receiving our full
salaries. I can’t look after myself, let alone my family, as my employer is
failing to pay me even though I am working hard,” said Dube.

The majority of
workers, not only in Bulawayo but countrywide, earn below the poverty datum
line, currently pegged at US$506.

The plight of workers
in Bulawayo has been worsened by the massive de-industrialisation that led to
many workers losing their jobs.

The city used to be the
country’s industrial hub but owing to economic constraints prevailing, most of
the companies have since shut down.

Big companies such as
the National Blankets, Zeco and clothing companies such as Archer, Security
Mills and Merlin have closed down or have relocated, leaving more than 25 000
workers jobless.

The Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions, who organised the Workers’ Day celebrations in Bulawayo, only
had the schoolchildren and vendors who made the bulk of the paltry crowd, to
thank for attending.

“This stadium used to
be full of workers celebrating this day but today it’s empty,” said
Ngwenya.

Ngwenya appealed to the
government to revive Bulawayo’s industry so that it could regain its former
glory.

“The government and
members of parliament, I beg you to revive the Bulawayo industry and create jobs
for the people,” said Ngwenya.

most companies in
Bulawayo remained operational on Workers’ Day,.

A survey carried out
revealed that it was business as usual as some companies, shops and supermarkets
were opened in the city centre.

Only government offices
and banks were closed for the holiday.

Most businesspeople
said they would not take a break to join in the celebrations because they wanted
to remain in business.

“We are not closing
down because if we are to do that, we will be out of business,” said Q-Pay
Investments marketing manager Zandile Maphosa.

Another businessperson
echoed the same sentiments, saying they would struggle to pay monthly bills if
they were to take a break.

“If we are to close
even for a day we would be out of business. We would not be able to pay rentals,
utility bills and workers. The time for us to go on holiday is long gone,” she
said.

Due to the economic
crisis, it has become the norm that most businesses in Bulawayo and beyond no
longer pay much attention to the significance of national or public holidays. In
the past it was only the bars, beerhalls and other entertainment sports that
remained open.

GNU
on deathbed, says President Mugabe

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said yesterday the life of the inclusive
government would come to an end on June 29, vowing that no negotiation for
an extension could be entertained by Zanu PF.

REPORT BY BY NDAMU
SANDU

The move is set to draw sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai who has been on a regional sojourn to press African leaders to
insist on the completion of reforms before the holding of the make-or-break
Zimbabwean elections.

Addressing the 92nd Ordinary Session of the
Zanu PF’s central committee at the party’s headquarters in Harare, Mugabe
said the Global Political Agreement (GPA) would expire on June
29.

“The clock is ticking. This is May and by the end of June, whether
anyone likes it or not, nguva inenge yakwana [time will be ripe].

The
sun will set for the creature called global [political] agreement,” Mugabe
said to thunderous applause from delegates.

Zanu PF has been insisting
that elections should be held on or before June 29 when the life of the
current Parliament expires.

The National Constitutional Assembly has also
supported the move, arguing that it would be illegal to have the executive
running the country without Parliament whose life automatically ends in
June.

The two MDC formations say elections would be disputed without
first completing reforms espoused in the GPA. Some of the reforms include
making the security sector professional and reforming the media, among
others.

Some security chiefs have been making political statements
insisting they would not salute Tsvangirai in the event that he wins
elections, a move MDC-T said was tantamount to a coup.

Tsvangirai has
been on the diplomatic offensive appraising regional leaders on the
situation obtaining on the ground.

In reference to Tsvangirai’s regional
sojourns, Mugabe said one does not have to run to African and European
countries “to prevent the day when the sun sets on the 29th of
June”.

He said on that day, the GPA would die a natural death and “we
will not negotiate another, never, ever”.

Mugabe said yesterday’s
central committee meeting might be the last before elections, though there
could be another one if the need arose to gauge the party’s preparedness for
elections.

He said any party candidate who plans violence would be
“rewarded” through violence “because violence begets
violence”.

Mugabe said Parliament would this week debate the draft
Constitution and expressed the hope MPs would okay it.

He said the
draft was “a political draft that still requires some changes”.

Mugabe
said if the draft was not passed “we will go back to the Lancaster which is
there” and has been used in the past 32 years.

‘Zim
headed for another GNU’

ZIMBABWE is headed
for a prolonged transition if elections are to be held within the next two
months before the full implementation of necessary reforms, The Zimbabwe
Transition Barometer has warned.

REPORT BY PATRICE MAKOVA

The
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (Cizc) barometer treks the progress of the
inclusive government and provides researched analysis to give a better
understanding of the transition.

The country scored lowly on almost
all the six focus areas that have an impact on both the transitional process
and the building and consolidation of democracy. These are rule of law,
implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), clearly defined
election dates and Sadc’s role. The barometer only gave high marks to the
recent constitutional referendum.

The barometer’s researcher, Phillan
Zamchiya said whereas there were positive democratic reforms attained in the
country, Mugabe and his Zanu PF are still in a position to manipulate state
institutions and electoral systems in order to retain power.

“In this
context, the incumbent will find it difficult to gain political legitimacy
due to the fact that Sadc, other political parties, civil society and the
independent media keep trekking the transition to expose Zanu PF’s election
manipulation strategies, subtle or overt,” he said.

Zamchiya said this
would mean that if elections were to be held on or before June 30, Mugabe
would need co-operation of protagonists (MDCs) post the general elections,
which would further prolong the current transition.

Under a prolonged
transition, Zamchiya said, the incumbent is faced with two options to gain
legitimacy. The first is to form a government of national unity with the
protagonists for an effective government. The second option would be for the
incumbent to be bold enough to dump the opposition, and seek legitimacy
through committing to advance the democratic gains that were made during the
transition.

The barometer said Zimbabwe was likely to proceed to
elections without an early election observation mechanism in place. The
Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic) would continue to be
restricted with sub-national issues of the violation of the GPA without
having oversight over the conduct of political leaders.

“Sadc
employees to Jomic may join the institution late and have minimal effect in
addressing environmental deviations to election guidelines,” reads the
barometer. “This will likely allow for political violence and intimidation
to prevail, although not at the same levels as in 2008 but to a significant
extent that will shape the election process and outcome.”

Zamchiya said
the failure to rigorously monitor and push for the implementation of the
electoral roadmap may lead to a sham election.

He said there was need to
build institutions and ensure transparency and accountability by reducing
chances of electoral fraud. It has been observed that one of the strategies
being used by Zanu PF is maintaining the “infrastructure of error” to enable
it to manipulate the electoral process.

“This infrastructure of error has
manifested itself through concealed and selective voter registration
exercise and the unfettered access of, and use of Zanu PF to state
institutions.

Furthermore, the conflation of voter registration and
inspection with the process of aligning laws with the new constitution,
there is potential continuation of concealed and selective implementation of
that process to the advantage of Zanu PF,” reads the barometer.

The
researcher said while it was now reported that there is an agreement between
the parties for the GPA on coming up with a time frame for the elections and
proclaiming the date, there is a high possibility of Zanu PF dragging its
feet on certain key reforms.

It says Zanu PF has persistently used this
strategy to duck certain reforms that are inimical to its interests such as
the reconstitution of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and security sector
reforms.

executive could rule by decree after june 29

Zamchiya
said the uncertainty over the election date and ambiguity on the status of
Parliament after June 29 presented a scenario whereby the executive would
form a government without legislative control, thus rule by
decree.

He said the limited time frame and failure to resolve the
tenure of Parliament post June 29 until the holding of elections could see
some of the outstanding reforms failing to happen particularly around
institutions directly or indirectly related to the electoral process.

‘Zimbabwe
needs God fearing leadership’

DEPUTY Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe has urged churches in
Zimbabwe to call on politicians and get them to understand the importance of
being God-fearing leaders for the good of the nation.

REPORT BY
KUDZAI CHIMHANGWA

Speaking at a regional workshop hosted by the Catholic
Professionals Network of Zimbabwe (CPNZ) in collaboration with the African
Forum for Catholic Social Teaching (AFCAST) in Harare recently, Khupe said
peace could only be realised with God-fearing leadership.

“If this
constitution is adhered to, mark my words, the people of Zimbabwe will live
in peace and harmony. They will have a better life. We are fortunate in that
we have voted for a new constitution resoundingly and this constitution
contains very important things; rights of children, women, of the elderly,
of the workers, and of the disabled,” she said.

The DPM implored the
church to impress it upon politicians that the positions they held were not
theirs, but God-given for the betterment and good of the country and the
people they represent.

Khupe said the country faced a problem with its
non-investor friendly policies and policy inconsistency and pointed out the
importance of empowering every person in the country.

“For the
creation of jobs, we must bring in new money. We must bring in investors
into the country, that’s the best way to create jobs, let’s take advantage
of the resources. After this election we are going to create jobs, without
any doubt,” she said.

CPNZ aims to achieve social transformation through
active participation in matters that affect people’s lives. The network is
also committed to building a culture of justice and peace, protection of
vulnerable groups, as well as safeguarding human rights.

Zimbabwe
Catholic Bishops’ Conference parliamentary liaison officer Edward Ndete said
employment creation for young people was imperative for the development of
the country.

“If a state cannot look after it’s people, let it go. Young
people need to be engaged and must be employed,” said Ndete.

He also
pointed out that the church was constantly calling on politicians to be
orderly and said the church constantly corrected and talked to the
leadership.

South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference parliamentary
liaison office director, Peter Pearson said there was need for politcians to
exercise power in ways that bring new possibilities to the people.

Mutasa
blasts Mnangagwa

MUTARE — Zanu PF
Secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa has blasted a faction loyal to
Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa accusing some of its members of being
“sell-outs”.

REPORT BY CLAYTON MASEKESA

Mutasa said it was clear
that Vice-President Joice Mujuru was second in line for Zanu PF after
President Robert Mugabe.

He said it was agreed at the party congress in
2004 that Mujuru be elevated to the post of Vice-President ahead of
Mnangagwa.

“We all agreed unanimously. Now we are surprised that there
are some people like Mnangagwa who are now leading another faction claiming
that they want to take over the party. Anyone who objects the legitimacy of
Mai Mujuru as the Vice-President of the party, then that person does not
belong to Zanu PF,” said Mutasa.

Mutasa, currently on the spotlight
after Zanu PF big wigs in Manicaland recently wrote a petition to Mugabe
accusing him of dictatorship and causing divisions, said no one had dared
openly challenge Mujuru in the past congress.

“In all those
congresses those that are against Mai Mujuru would be quiet. Now some other
people are now causing divisions, is it because she is a woman?” he
asked.

“Zanu PF is a strong party and Mai Mujuru was put in that position
because of her sound track record and good deeds in the party and no one
should object that. She is our leader. Those that are fanning factionalism
are sell-outs and they are perpetuating the destruction of the
party.”

Mutasa revealed that more big names from Zanu PF have been
implicated in illegal diamond dealing, prejudicing the country of millions
of dollars.

He said the recent suspension of provincial chairman, Mike
Madiro, youth chairman, Tawanda Mukodza and three others on allegations that
they defrauded diamond mining companies was just “a tip of the
iceberg”.

“I have received a petition from concerned party members who
were implicating very big names from Zanu PF who are illegally dealing in
diamonds from Chiadzwa. This is going to expose some very senior party
officials who have been extorting money from diamond mining companies and
allegedly converting the money to their own use,” he said.

He said
the likes of Madiro and Mukodza were “just small fish, but there are bigger
fish that have been implicated”.

Mutasa said investigations were in
progress, warning that the names of those implicated would soon be made
public.

He said Mugabe was aware of all the illegal diamond deals and
would soon act against the suspects.

Mutasa said he was “baffled”
that people from Manicaland were not benefitting from the diamond proceeds
yet they were the owners of the precious mineral resource.

“I am very
concerned and at the same time surprised thatpeople in Manicaland are not
benefitting from their resources. Now and again diamonds in Chiadzwa are
benefitting influential people outside Manicaland.

“It is not a secret
that the people of Manicaland are the bona fide beneficiaries of the
resources,” said the under-fire politician.

He said he was not happy that
headquarters and all chairpersons of diamond mining companies in Manicaland
were based in Harare.

Committee
seeks Mugabe’s help in Chisumbanje row

A
committee tasked with ensuring communication between the local community and
the developers of the Chisumbanje ethanol project wants President Robert
Mugabe to intervene so that the multi-million dollar venture could be
revived.

REPORT BY NDAMU SANDU

The project stopped operations
in 2011 after it reached its storage capacity as there was no local uptake
of the commodity.

The District Ethanol Project Implementation Committee
(Depic) wrote to Mugabe on Thursday requesting a meeting with him, his
deputy Joice Mujuru, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Deputy PMs Arthur
Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe and the investor Billy Rautenbach. The meeting
would discuss how the plant would get back on track.

Depic is
composed of Chief Garahwa, MP Meki Makuyana, local headmen, district
administrator, councillors, police, members of the President’s office and
community representatives, among others.

“We believe that meeting with
all the concerned parties at once will facilitate prompt and decisive action
to ensure that the Chisumbanje Ethanol Plant is reopened immediately,” reads
part the letter.“The 13 members of Depic shall be arriving on Sunday [today]
and shall be available at your convenience.”

Cabinet recently
approved a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the ownership of the
Chisumbanje ethanol and it now awaits scrutiny from the Attorney General’s
office.

The MOA would effectively give government a 51% shareholding in
the ethanol plant with the remainder owned by Billy Rautenbach’s
companies.

Initially, the project was a 20-year Build, Operate and
Transfer between the Agricultural Rural Development Authority (Arda) and
Rautenbach’s Ratings and Macdom.

Government recently introduced a 5%
mandatory blending for petrol which analysts say would save US$2 million
monthly in imports. The country imports at least 30 million litres of petrol
per month.

But Depic say the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority has to
issue the blending licence for the exercise to take place at 10% and not
5%.

‘MUGABE HAS THE SOLUTION TO THIS IMPASSE’

Claris Madhuku,
Depic spokesperson, said the idea of seeking Mugabe’s help came as a
resolution of Thursday’s meeting.

“It was agreed that the solution lies
in high offices as all other offices are politicking.

“We are
convinced that the issue will be solved once and for all. A team from Depic
will be in Harare on Sunday [today] and return to Chisumbanje once the case
is solved,” Madhuku said yesterday.

Depic was formed in December last
year by the inter-ministerial taskforce on Chisumbanje and have a mandate to
resolve any problems the project may face.

Tongogara’s
brother dies, Zanu PF snubs funeral

MICHAEL, the elder brother of the late Zanla chief and national
hero, Josiah Magama Tongogara died in Mt Darwin last week, but Zanu PF
snubbed his burial yesterday, it has emerged.

REPORT BY JENNIFER
DUBE

By yesterday evening, Zanu PF officials were yet to pay their
condolences to the Tongogara family. Family spokesperson and one of Josiah
Tongogara’s sons, Granger said his uncle succumbed to hypertension and died
on Tuesday last week at the age of 75.

He said the Tongogara family
had lost a pillar of strength.

“Mike shall be remembered as a husband,
father, brother, grandfather, unifier and a comrade to many,” said Granger.
“Mike played a father figure to all of Josiah Tongogara’s children. He is
survived by his wife, several children and grandchildren.”

Michael
had recently told The Standard that he was still an active Zanu PF member
although he did not hold a position anymore. He was based in Zambia during
the liberation struggle and used to house many senior Zanu PF officials at
his residence in Chingolo.

The late Michael died a bitter man complaining
that his party, President Robert Mugabe, Vice President Joice Mujuru and
others who used to be close to Tongogara had neglected the late hero’s 10
children, most of whom were struggling to make ends meet.

Recently he
showed The Standard several letters from Tongogara asking him to take care
of his children in the event that he died.

In one of the letters, dated
December 4 1978, Tongogara wrote from Mozambique to his elder brother
outlining his war trials and his concern for Zimbabwe and his
family.

Michael had written to his young brother explaining how he had
been “tortured” by the Zambian authorities as the fallout between Zanu PF
leaders and Kenneth Kaunda’s government continued well after Tongogara and
others had been exonerated by the courts for the death of Hebert Chitepo.
The late Zanu chairman was killed in Lusaka in 1975 in a car bomb which the
former liberation movement blamed on Rhodesian agents.

Michael also
told The Standard that he was still in the dark regarding the death of
Tongogara in a mysterious car accident on December 26 1979 saying the family
still longed for answers.

Granger said while some senior government and
military officials were recently seen supporting a distant relative of one
of Tongogara’s family members who had died; the same treatment had not been
accorded to Michael.

“They provided security and cars [name withheld]
playing a divide and rule game to the family,” said another
relative.

Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairperson Dickson
Mafios yesterday said he was not aware of Michael’s death.

“We have
not been informed yet,” Mafios said. “Maybe we will be informed at today’s
(yesterday) central committee meeting which we are rushing to now,” he
said.

Party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said he could not answer any
questions as he was in a meeting while Mashonaland Central governor Martin
Dinha said he did not know Michael.

“One of the family members called
telling me about it [the death] but I did not confirm,”

Dinha said.
“The problem is I have not been around as I am studying thus, have to
frequently take days off.

“I had to rush down here for the burial of
Chief Chiweshe and I also had two funerals within my own family.”

New
shopping mall to give Hwange a face-lift

Hwange Local Board is set to construct a US$700 000 shopping mall, a
move that is set to give the coal mining town a face-lift.

REPORT BY
OUR CORRESPONDENT

Town secretary Ndumiso Mdlalose was optimistic that the
project would generate employment and lure investors to Hwange.

If
completed, the shopping mall will house financial institutions, large retail
shops and offices.

“We are very confident that the project will see the
light of day.

This project will also bring the much-needed development of
Hwange and Matabeleland North province.

“We are going to
strategically locate this shopping mall, where everyone passing through
Hwange can have access to the services offered at this shopping mall,” said
Mdlalose.

He said the current set-up of the Hwange Central Business
District was not in good order, as retail shops and other service providers
were scattered.

“The current set-up of Hwange is not very good, the
businesses are scattered, which is not good for people,” he said.

He
attributed this to the fact that companies operating in Hwange were in
charge of the large chunk of infrastructure, especially properties rented to
the business community.

Hwange Colliery Company and Zimbabwe Power
Company own most of the properties being rented out.

Mdlalose said
the projects by the local authority aim to boost tourism in Hwange and
surrounding areas.

“Mining has a time limit yet tourism is continuous,
hence our thrust on converting this town into another tourism spot like
Victoria Falls,” said Mdlalose.

Hwange Local Board chairman, Cosmos
Ndlovu said the actual planning of the shopping mall project has already
been done and council now awaited the physical planning team to finalise it
before construction started.

He said construction of the main road at the
proposed shopping mall project was underway having been made possible
through funding from the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration.

The
council has also sourced 52 000 litres of bitumen to resurface the roads
around the proposed project site.

The shopping mall project is one of
the many projects the local board is undertaking this year, having completed
the rehabilitation of the sewer reticulation system which had been a problem
for the local authority for the past six years.

Battle
between kombi drivers, police still on

COMMUTER omnibus drivers have vowed to continue playing the
cat-and-mouse games with the police, despite putting the lives of travellers
at risk.

REPORT BY DALPHINE TAGWIREYI

Recently, a woman died after
she was hit by a commuter omnibus that was fleeing police officers. The
woman died while she was disembarking a kombi that had just parked at
Copacabana bus terminus. In another case, one person was killed and six
others were injured when they were run over by another commuter omnibus that
was fleeing police officers.

A commuter omnibus driver, Gift Kasambwa
said they had no choice but to flee from police officers, who always
demanded bribes.

“Since there isn’t enough space at the terminus, we are
forced to park on Chinhoyi Street and when we do this, the police pounce on
us and demand bribes ranging from US$5 to US$10, which we cannot afford,” he
said.

In an effort to decongest the central business district, the City
of Harare has ordered commuter omnibus operators to use designated ranks,
but the drivers insist that these are too small to accommodate Harare’s
growing kombi population.

“City fathers always speak of constructing
new ranks for us, but this has not happened. They have never used public
transport, as they drive so they cannot understand the congestion that these
ranks are experiencing” said Kasambwa.

Alex Pahwana complained about
police raids on streets that feed into Copa Cabana rank saying the officers
should know the terminus cannot accommodate all the commuter
omnibuses.

“When commuters alight on Chinhoyi Street, the police count
the number of alighting passengers and demand US$4 per person from us,” he
lamented. “It’s as if they want to make US$200 each.”

It is estimated
that there are 5 000 commuter omnibuses in Harare and the city’s termini
have proved too small for these.

In search of space and passengers,
kombis have spilled into town, triggering clashes with police and the Harare
municipal officers, who accuse them of congesting the CBD. Harare municipal
police throw spikes on fleeing kombis to puncture their tyres. This puts the
lives of commuters aboard at risk.

The drivers also accused the police of
smashing their windscreens, saying this was why they fled each time they
were stopped by officers.

Recently police spokesperson, Charity Charamba
said it was illegal for the police to smash windscreens.

“The ZRP
[Zimbabwe Republic Police] does not condone such behaviour and has no policy
with regards to hitting windscreens and rear mirrors,” she said. “Any
officer caught smashing windscreens is subject to a police disciplinary
hearing.”

Efforts to get a comment from Harare City Council
spokesman, Leslie Gwindi were fruitless.

Patients
warned against stock-piling ARVs

Patients on anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy have been warned against
double dipping as a measure to safeguard themselves following reports that
there were imminent shortages of ARVs.

REPORT BY PHYLLIS
MBANJE

Many patients, acting on the rumours, registered in different
programmes and areas, in a bid to ensure that they get a supply of the
life-saving drugs.

This scenario has resulted in other deserving patients
being left out or trailing at the bottom of the list. Speaking during the
National AIDS Council HIV and Aids update in Chinhoyi, Rangarirai Chiteure
of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) said there were adequate
supplies and CCM had proposed to cover the procurement of ARVs for the last
two quarters of 2014 using savings realised from the Global Fund in the
2012-13 round.

“Patients on anti-retroviral therapy should not panic or
engage in double dipping as stocks are adequate.

The country was
recently availed with US$32,2 million to fight HIV, TB and malaria for the
year 2014 from the Global Fund.

Also speaking at the same meeting, the
MOHCW and TB unit director Owen Mugurungi said the country indeed had enough
drugs to last up to 2014.

“There shall be no gaps and shortages this year
and even in 2014,” Mugurungi said.

Early this year the Ministry of
Health and Child Welfare announced they were only left with two months’
supply of drugs and appealed to the Global Fund for assistance. The country
then received U$32,2 million for the year 2014.

Churches
take over Byo company premises

CHURCH
organisations are converting Bulawayo industrial pre-mises into churches, as
efforts to revive the city’s industry fail to bear fruits.

Report by Musa
Dube

The city’s Central Business District (CBD) is also littered with
Pentecostal church groups that are taking over most of the vacant premises
left by shut down companies and converting them into places of worship, much
to the chagrin of the unemployed residents.

Self-proclaimed prophet,
Emmanuel Makandiwa’s Ufic church attracted the ire of many residents after
they took over Mills Textile company premises in the city and converted part
of it into a church.

The company used to employ over 1 000 workers but
now employs less than 200 owing to lack of capital coupled by the poor
economic environment.

A drive to the industrial sites reveals a grim
scenario where posters of big companies have been pulled down and replaced
by those belonging to churches.

Director of Zimbabwe Christian Alliance,
Reverend Useni Sibanda blasted some church organisations saying they were
worsening the economic situation by taking over industrial premises and
converting them into churches.

“Instead of churches taking over
industries, they should actually be working on reviving the industry because
church service cannot substitute production of labour,” said Sibanda in his
solidarity message at the Workers Day commemorations in Bulawayo.

“We
believe that when God created man, he created labour and labour is part of
the means of production.

“Many people, especially in Bulawayo, are not
able to sustain their families. The church’s goal should be to make sure
that people survive,” said Sibanda.

“Part of churches’ role is to
help revive industry and we cannot help people by taking over the empty
buildings. By taking and filling them with people, we are actually worsening
the situation.

“They must instead build their own premises where they do
church business.

“How do people survive if we are to take over all the
buildings,” he said.

Zimbabweans
starved of vital information

Zimbabwe is
suffering from confidence crisis as can be witnessed by the extent to which
citizens approach the different public bodies for information. This is so
especially because there is little and no honest communication between the
state and citizens, which results in citizens having to speculate and gossip
in order for them to make important decisions.

REPORT BY KUDZAI
KWANGWARI

In a community where there is no communication between the
citizenry and the state, both exhibit lack of trust in each other and engage
in activities that are meant to protect and promote personal gain at the
expense of national interest. On the part of government, there has not been
any efforts to ensure that the citizens have unfettered access to public
offices, particularly those that deal with critical information. Oftentimes,
what comes from the direction of the state are orders and instructions where
citizens are expected to conform without proper progressive engagements,
while from the citizenry it is usually the complains on positions and
policies which they feel are improper.

In a big way, the government
has used different legal instruments which curtail free access to
information for citizens such as Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (Aippa), Official Secrets Act, Broadcasting Services Act,
Censorship Act, Public Order and Security Act (Posa) and Interception of
Communications Act.

These tools have been used to create a gap between
citizens and the state which has given rise to the confidence crisis that
this country is grappling with at the moment with by-products manifesting as
polarisation and diminishing trust. It has created a buffer so that the
people cannot access their government. The government seems to be afraid of
its people while the people seem to be both suspicious and afraid of their
government. In a situation as is obtaining, the nation suffers lack of
consensus and fragmentation where there is no area of commonality or
rallying point for us all.

Oftentimes, when bodies such as Zinara
attempt to appraise citizens on its work, for instance how much it has
collected through toll gates, citizens frown at it as an expression of
disapproval and lack of trust in both the communicator and the information
itself. This is the case with other bodies that are linked to the state
including National Aids Council (NAC), Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra),
Zesa, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA),
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), and Broadcasting Authority (BAZ). They
have lost credibility and the citizenry have no confidence in
them.

Having said this, it is then terribly important for the government
to open up channels of communication by promoting and enhancing media
freedom so that media practitioners can access information sources for
reliable information, whether negative or positive. The propensity to block
the free flow of information should not be allowed in this era. The
harnessing of ICTs and social media should be one of the critical areas that
this government should embrace in order to build this confidence and enhance
interaction between the state and citizens. The e-government concept which
Communications minister Nelson Chamisa mentions sometimes should be the way
to go.

But all this requires political will and preparedness to
account on those who hold public office in whatever capacity.

For as
long as there is no relationship between the governed and the governors,
there will be no development in this country and any other country for that
matter. And needless to say, this relationship is established and sustained
through communication.

Hope
resides in people’s resilience

Many
Zimbabweans have begun to ask if there is a way, or ways, to move the
country forward regardless of the bad politics. In asking this question,
they are expressing their sense of helplessness resulting from the failure
of the country’s leadership to guide the country in its quest for stability
and prosperity.

REPORT BY NEVANJI MADANHIRE

Zimbabweans have
realised that politics have kept the country in the mud for far too long and
the space the country is in now is not a good one and will likely remain so
for another generation or so.

When the political crisis began around the
turn of the millennium, many believed the political leadership would rise to
the occasion quickly enough and solve their differences. The majority of the
people also believed they would play their role by exercising their
democratic right to choose the leadership they wished to lead
them.

But after more than 10 years, in which they went to the polls five
times, they have come to believe their vote counts for nothing in the
dog-eat-dog politics where cabals rule the roost.

Among lots of
Zimbabweans fatalism has now crept in — they have now adopted the
anything-goes approach, hence they walk about as if nothing is amiss. The
cabal that controls the country is very happy about this for this creates
just the right atmosphere for their politics of personal
aggrandisement.

When the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was signed
in 2008, many saw a ray of hope; they hoped that the political leadership
was sincere and would, at last, use the life-span of the agreement to
transition from the politics of hate to the politics of building bridges.
But the GPA has become even more divisive as groups with vested interests in
the status quo refuse to budge.

Security sector reform has become the
most divisive element of the GPA, everyone is aware of that. But not a
single protagonist in this drama wants to rise above the whole lot and say,
“For the sake of the country, I am quitting.”

As an African proverb
says, to keep someone in the mud, one also has to be in the mud. All those
people keeping the country in this perpetual state of crisis don’t realise
they too are deep, if not deeper, in the crisis.

But where lies
Zimbabwe’s hope, for there should be hope somewhere?There are people who
have shown that Zimbabwe can be moved forward in spite of the intractable
political mess. On the large stage, I would like to mention the Harare
International Festival of the Arts (Hifa) which ends in the capital today.
In spite of the crisis, the festival has successfully celebrated its 11th
anniversary; it is almost as old as the country’s political-economic
crisis.

It has not been smooth sailing for the Hifa team. Year in, year
out, the team describes its frustration with bureaucratic red
tape.

Each year they have to struggle to bring in foreign artistes and
their equipment because those running the bureaucracy want a bite of the
cherry, even when the cherry is non-existent.

Above everything else,
Hifa has shown the world what Zimbabweans working together as a non-racial,
apolitical team are capable of achieving. Compare Hifa with the forthcoming
UNWTO summit which the country will co-host with Zambia in August. See how
the dirty politics threaten to scupper the event as groups fight for
space.

But even more inspiring than the Hifa success, is the way the
common people are surviving the crisis. Recently I bought a pair of shoes
from the street. I couldn’t resist it because of the workmanship on display.
Talking to the vendors of the footwear, I was warmed in the heart by the
spirit of entrepreneurship in the face of adversity.

The young men
who make the hand-made shoes are a new breed of youth that have seen the
futility of expecting a dysfunctional government to provide jobs.
Unemployment in Zimbabwe is still estimated to be as high as 80% and the
system is unlikely to correct that any time soon. The young shoemakers have
realised this and have decided to move their lives forward.

They meet
many challenges which they have decided to take head-on.

For example, the
legality of their enterprise is questionable since they threaten to outdo
established shoe manufacturers and traders.

But these have already seen
their business decimated by cheap Chinese imports. In a guerrilla economy
such as ours, where more business is happening in the informal economy than
in the shops, anything goes.

The informal shoemakers are just one example
of the spirit that has enabled ordinary Zimbabweans to survive when they
have been let down by their government. Our music industry is another such
enterprise that has seen hoards of young people survive well when the formal
economy has let them down. There is the tendency to look down upon this
industry and underestimate the role it’s playing in keeping our children off
the streets. But government has again let down this sector as it makes no
firm commitment to fighting piracy.

On every street corner one cannot
help but see people selling pirated music while the police look on or make
half-hearted attempts to arrest the culprits. In the end the young people
who toil every day to produce the music cannot survive on the fruits of
their labour.

Every morning in Harare one can see women of all ages
perched precariously on decrepit vans carrying various vegetables from Mbare
Musika to their stalls in the low-income suburbs. They can’t be making that
much money, but one can see and feel their will to survive. It is this
spirit that will save this country.

In the script Zimbabwe Rising, it
is these ordinary Zimbabweans who will be the chief protagonists, not the
politicians. The country’s crisis of leadership might as well be solved by
these people in the coming generation. We have read stories from around the
world of billionaires who started by selling cigarettes or some such wares
on the street who have now risen to lead their countries.

There is,
therefore, no reason for fatalism and helplessness in the face of our
political crisis; there are many ways of moving this country forward without
the ugly politics.

Media
freedom: Politics is the problem

While as a human rights activist of more than five years now I
could not agree more with the wise statement that human beings are
inherently political animals, I think as Zimbabweans, there is more politics
in us than anything else, which shows why we are an unbalanced
society.

Report by Vivid Gwede

It seems as if we don’t have
other lives where we indulge in other things which are completely different,
like loving our spouses, or going to church to confess how our human lot has
failed to rise above sin in our daily lives.

The public is not
allowed media platforms to discuss mundane and recurrent human issues — such
as when a pastor fancies a married mother of three who is God-fearing. We
need to profoundly talk about the drought which has become a permanent
feature of our food insecurities. Even the discussion about same-sex
indulgences is equally important without the politics — but everything
politics touches goes to waste.

We go about as if there is no one
actually riding a shaky and squeaky bicycle carrying an ill family member to
a distant rural clinic under the unforgiving sun above him. Such stories,
which can be captured by a community radio and radically change the lives of
many by showing the urgency, seem to go unnoticed.

Our major problem
is that we are now obsessed with politics to the point of being fanatics who
think inside that always self indulgent, non-objective, non-rational and
unpopular political box. Who does not know that politics has the highest
concentration of haters and liars per congregation?

So why can’t we
forsake it at times in discussions which do not require it and which would
otherwise be interesting without that monstrosity?

It was really
unsettling when I recently attended a public discussion on the need for
press freedom. For me, people who talked sense and sounded educated said we
needed media houses and broadcast entities to proliferate in Zimbabwe.
Political fairness and plurality in media coverage mean more or less the
same.

It is unbelievable that the whole media discussion has been reduced
to a political tussle as narrow as whether party A should open the media
space to party B.

Clearly, why should party A think it has all the
power to adjudicate on the reasons and rights of those people who want to
hear out party B? Is that the reason the media has degenerated to be about
politics and nothing else?

We know some forlorn and heart broken dude
wants to talk about love on radio. I think I need a radio show to talk about
why I am a politician who is anti-politics. That could be a more interesting
and brain-teasing discussion than the consistent and dreary discussion about
political thuggery—whether ideologically justified or not — guns and blood
during the liberation struggle which came to pass three decades
ago.

Someone might want to listen to Mbakumba and Muchongoyo on a
community radio in the heart of a rural area. They do not always think
national. The question of whether it is their right or not, to think and
live communal rather than national is irrelevant.

Why should media
broadcasts be all about ZBC’s obsession with the Harare’s political mazes
where they ludicrously think that Zanu PF is the centre of
ideology?

The only real merits of the media discussion will be seen
in its rational context. We need the discussion to be national in
scope.

Politicians have become self-indulgent, they want to protect their
interests at the expense of the majority.

They believe every man and
woman is obsessed with politics in the same way they are, yet people have
other urgent needs to take care of. They think every one’s life should
revolve around their politics-inclined minds. They do not see the common man
for whom politics is just part and not the entirety of every day
life.

Politicians do not seem to want to engage the electorate, to hear
their views and to work on policies that are for the people. Media reforms
should not be about politicians, but about the people and their right to
access information.

Life is all about choices and that is what press
freedom should be about. What the politicians signed in the Global Political
Agreement is just their understanding of why they need press freedom. There
are other groups whose needs are still to be catered for.

Press
freedom and the licensing of community radio stations should not be tied to
the inefficient wheels of politics. Politics is self-serving, but there are
voices waiting to be heard and subjects still to be tackled when access to
media is availed.

Press
freedom still a mirage

Zimbabwe on
Friday joined other countries in marking World Press Freedom Day but there
was little to cheer for local journalists. The day was set aside 20 years
ago by the United Nations to raise awareness on the importance of press
freedom.

Journalists and media-friendly organisations on May 3 each year
reflect on the state of press freedom throughout the world, defend the media
from attacks on its independence and pay tribute to journalists who have
lost their lives in the line of duty.

In Zimbabwe, there is need to
do more for the cause of press freedom which is in the doldrums. Little has
changed for journalists who endured a torrid time between 2000 to 2005 when
journalists were harassed, beaten up, arrested and newspapers closed
down.

While a number of independent publications have been granted
permission to hit the streets, the environment remains unfavourable to the
growth and vibrancy of the independent press. Webster Shamu, the Information
minister continues to threaten journalists.

The Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe is yet to license community radio stations and new
independent television stations, preferring to permit only two commercial
radio stations, Zi-FM stereo and Star FM.

Repressive laws such as the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa) and the Public
Order and Security Act (Posa) are still in existence.

Criminal
defamation remains a weapon that is constantly used by enemies of a free
press.

The state-owned ZBC still maintains its monopoly on the airwaves,
shutting out divergent views.

The broadcaster continues to churn out
hate speech, especially towards MDC formations, now that the country is
moving towards the holding of elections.

While journalists have been
clamouring for self-regulation, the new constitution, largely a product of
negotiations between the main political parties, has maintained the
statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission.

Clearly, the inclusive government,
which has been in existence for four years, is not prioritising media
reforms, yet a free media is the cornerstone of any democratic
state.

We urge GNU principals to implement media reforms urgently in
order to do away with undue restrictions on press freedom.